rippertalesfandomcom-20200215-history
Awake Or Asleep
I open my eye. I feel disabled at first because there was no light. I rose to an upright postition, feelign water lapping against my sodden clothes. Grown at my head becomign dizzy, I hear voices. After a little while I find in the darkness the rest of the group, except Sir Bobby and the Reverend. As I sit on the wall, regaining my head. I check my pockets. Luckily I still have my harmonica, but I didn't want to play it, because it was drenched in the same foul smell that I smelled of. Checkign my coat pockets, I shock myself. Both pockets haqd holes in them and had no knucks in them. Frantically, sifting my hands through god knows what I miss the conversation Garvin and Doc are having with these men called Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar. Anyway, Doc did her best to patch up my wounds and Garvin's sore foot we were on the look out for a floating market. We explore some tunnels, stumbling upon a strange event. A rat that wouldn't leave us alone as if it was telling us to follow it. So ducking and diving through some sewers, we come across a room full of people and rats, where the rats appear to be in charge because the people seemed very attentative to what the rats were doing, running around, standing up and squeekign, to which the mad people responded to! As I'm watching one rat give directions to several other ones, must be leader of the pack or something. Doc trades some trash for a guide to take us to the "The Floating Market" As usual, Garvin goes for the hens, with his whiskers twitching he eyes up a particularly pale lady, ofcourse Garvin is taking more notice of the low cut outfits the ladies are wearing which seems strange, that a lady (probable the Bonnie type of lady) down in the sewers wearing a rich velvet dress. We pull Garvin off, who now looks of a simular colour to the ladies, but I'm sure a good meal or swift drink would sort that, but hey I'm no Doctor. Night's Bridge Nightmare Then they come to "The Night's Bridge" - Mrs MacTannon is most perturbed by her crossing, and Rig is driven over the edge by what he sees in the darkness, succumbing to Ripping Psychosis and needing to be put down by a swift knee to the crotch from Garvin. The Floating Market turns out to be taking place inside Harrods, and is a most peculiar sight. Garvin prevents Rig from getting involved in a fight to 'recruit Bravos' being overseen by a corpulent gentleman in his long-johns, guarded by two men in chain-mail. Belladonna offers healing to a man who pays her with a cygnets egg of all things. Mrs MacTannon encounters a debonair coloured fellow with a pet cat, who calls himself the Marquis de Carabas. de Carabas offers to guide them to Serpentine and arrange for them to be able to take the Spear, for a fee. That of a Cygnet's egg, freely given. As Belladonna has acquired one, the group acceeds and they travel with a group including the Man in his Long Johns, who is apparently an Earl who holds court on a train, a Roman Centurion (who Belladonna discovers lost his cohort marching in the mists outside of Londinium but two weeks ago ...) and a dark skinned woman wearing very little, called Hunter (whom Garvin is, unsurprisingly, interested in getting to know better). Walking through the streets of London, they are passed by many folks, who pay them no mind at all. Beneath the Albert Memorial they part ways with de Carabas and the Earl and his party (who head to meet Serpentine at the White City) and they make their way across Kensington Gardens, being warned to 'not listen to the pipes of the Pan'. Beneath a bridge they encounter a young boy in a night shirt, wearing a top hat and carrying an umbrella, who identifies himself as 'John Darling'. He tells tales of Indians, crocodiles with clocks in their bellies, and Pirate Captains upon the high sea (which gesturing at the Serpentine river ...) Making their way onto the Bridge they discover that the spear has been hidden as a railing, which only Rig is able to remove - he becomes very possessive of the spear and will not let anyone else carry it. Returning to the Floating Market, they find it has moved, but are shown to it's new location by 'Big Ben' the town cryer, who offers them a cup of tea and a biscuit in his house beneath Parliament. His room is filled with clocks of all kinds, and strange flat things with glowing, angular numbers upon them. They spend over an hour there, but when they depart it is half an hour earlier than when they entered. The Market has now moved to the British Museum. Arriving there they meet with de Carabas again, who agrees to help them find Croup and Vandemar, in return for a 'Favour, to be collected upon later'. He takes them to the Velvet, Lamia, who knows where Croup and Vandemar currently are - but charges a price of her own for the information - a price Garvin is eager to pay. Her kiss nearly kills him, leaving him frostbitten, though he does not seem to notice it himself. They leave the Museum through a door in the basement, passing Carstairs in his office en route. They try to get his attention, but fail to do so. They are taken by de Carabas, to Camden, they meet with Croup and Vandemar again, and Rig is not happy to give up the spear, but eventually does so, thanks to Garvin's timely 'aid'. In order to escape London Below, they head to a tavern and drink themselves insensible. Definately Awake Waking the following morning, asleep in the street, they discover that they have been robbed, but at least are visible to the denizens of London. They make their way to the London Lodge. Garvin shows a gemstone he had hidden in the lining of his coat to get the cabbie to take them in their dishevelled state, and the others are curious as to where he acquired such an item ... They return to Southend and rest and recuperate. Rig is fully healed within a week, but Garvin still has some problems with the foot that was pierced by the portcullis. Contents Page Next Page